1818 - Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley publishes
Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus. It is often
considered to be the first true science fiction novel.
1870 - Jules Verne publishes Twenty Thousand Leagues
under the Sea.
1895 - H. G. Wells' novel The Time Machine: An
Invention is published.
1921 - The word "robot" is used for the first time in the
Czech play R.U.R. by Karel Capek. It is derived
from the Czech word robota which means "statute
labour."
1926 - In the premier issue (April) of Amazing
Stories Hugo Gernsback defines a term he has recently
coined: "scientifiction." This term soon evolves into
"science fiction."
1926 - Director Fritz Lang releases the influential SF
film Metropolis.
1937 - The legendary editor John W. Campbell Jr takes
charge of the magazine Astounding Science-Fiction.
His leadership inaugurates what is often known as "The
Golden Age of Science Fiction" and helps start the careers
of numerous influential SF writers such as Isaac Asimov and
Robert Heinlein.
1938 - Orson Welles presents a radio drama based on H. G.
Wells' War of the Worlds, in the form of a news
broadcast. Unfortunately, many listeners mistakenly
believe they are hearing a real newscast about actual
martian invaders.
1939 - The first World Science Fiction Convention is held
in New York.
1941 - Isaac Asimov publishes the short story "Nightfall,"
in Astounding Science-Fiction. It is now among the
most famous SF short stories of all time.
1950 - Ray Bradbury publishes the book The Martian Chronicles, a brilliant and influential collection of interconnected stories which relate the history of humanity's exploration and colonization of the red planet.
1966 - NBC broadcasts the first episode of Gene
Roddenberry's highly influential television program,
Star Trek.
1968 - Director Stanley Kubrick releases the film 2001:
A Space Odyssey, based loosely on the short story
The Sentinel by Arthur C. Clarke. Shortly
thereafter, Clarke publishes a novel based on the film.
1977 - George Lucas releases his ultrapopular film,
Star Wars, and changes the look of summer
entertainment forever.
1982 - This year sees the release of numerous important SF
films, including Steven Spielberg's megahit ET: The
Extraterrestrial, the influential Blade Runner
(which is credited with jump-starting the cyberpunk
movement), Tron (which was the first film to make
extensive use of CGI special effects), and Star Trek II:
The Wrath of Kahn (which many consider to be the best
of the Trek movies).
1985 - Orson Scott Card publishes his novel Ender's
Game, which is based on a short story he published in
1977.
1997 - The brilliant websites The Interplanetary Railroad and Talkin' Smeg are
founded by Argus Skyhawk.
1999 - After having generously handed control of the aforementioned sites over to Realm Scribe Shadren and §amantha, Argus founds a new site, The Rings of Saturn. It goes on to become the most
popular site on the internet.
The information in this timeline was compiled from various
sources, but most of it comes from The Encyclopedia of
Science Fiction by John Clute and Peter Nicholls.
